OPERA REVIEW: No happy ending in tale of Parisian tragedy

TRAGIC LOVE STORY: Giacomo Puccini's passionate and romantic opera, La Boheme, performed at the Royal Opera House in London, with an orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano and starring Nicole Car (Mimi), Michael Fabiano (Rodolfo) and Mariusz KwiecieD (Marcello) in a new production by Richard Jones. Photo supplied.

Actress, novelist, musician and broadcaster Clemency Burton-Hill, host of the latest Royal Opera House Live performance beamed to Spalding on Tuesday night, described La Boheme as “tales of friends and fellowship, love and loss”.

In this case, the setting is 1830s Paris where poet Rodolfo is living in poverty with poor artist Marcello (Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien), musician Schaunard and philisopher Colline.

The four friends start a light-hearted but crude conversation about sex and relationships before Rodolfo is dealt a doomed hand when a knock at the door brings seamstress Mimi to his door and into his life.

But their quickly established romance is to end tragically as Rodolfo discovers Mimi’s terminal tuberculosis which at one stage, almost tears the lovers apart.

The opera ends with Rodolfo and Mimi reunited where the action starts, in a cold Parisian flat where the seamstress dies in her lover’s arms.